what does "India" mean to u?

Question

This is a questions to all Indians.. what is ur opinion aboutt India from the economic, social,cultural, or even from ur own personal point of view.. About its progress, and shortcomings..

Opinions from non Indians(rest of the world) are also well come.

Answer 1

Please forgive the rudeness of Post #2.

I discovered India last year when I married in Kerala. We spent a lovely time traveling through the province and then Tamil Nadu and up to Bangalore. Because I was with a native man, and the only white woman there during monsoon season (never saw another white all the time I was there but for a few in Bangalore) I was treated well with such courtesy.

To me, India is the soul of the planet. Southern India is the soul of your country, home of the spirit. The spirit is everywhere. I saw so much religious tolerance. Up in Munnar, within a stone's throw are a Mosque, a Temple and a Church. There are religious structures everywhere, small shrines. You stumble across them everywhere. You find a tree and there are offerings to the local goddess. It is everywhere.

Businesses, every vehicle I saw had a name, most of them dedicated to the owner's religion in some way. (Infant Jesus Radiator Works is still my favourite). The vehicles ! I would love to return to make a book of the beautifully painted trucks and buses. Transportation in India fascinated me. Honda travel awed me. Whole families, huge loads of farm materials, I never realized a 2 wheel motor bike could be so well used.

India is beautiful women in brilliant colours, women unafraid of colour unlike those in the west. No matter the dirt beneath their sandals, women floated like flowers in their graceful saris and shalmar kameez. The women might have been tired or fat or old but they all looked graceful. Saris are a beautiful form of dress and flatter every woman no matter her shape.

India is men in long simple skirts. I am sorry I do not remember the name of the plain cloth they wear wrapped around their waists. The same ones they tie up, drop down, tie up, and drop down, almost constantly. I loved seeing this highly efficient perfect piece of cloth teamed with business wear! They are a marvel of simplicity, functionality and comfort in such a climate, especially during the monsoons!

India is the wretched little beggar girl in the traffic in Bangalore, her nose pressed against the window. I remember her look of disgust as I handed her my last 5 rupees with an apology. India is street dealers sitting everywhere with goods to sell. Except in bigger cities, I saw no huge stores, just people being industrious and selling what they could find to sell. India is also the queenly woman in a golden sari picking her way through an expensive silk shop, followed by servants carrying her purchases.

India is ... I am so overwhelmed with memories I am having trouble remembering all India was to me. India is Periyar and the beauty I saw there. But it is also crazy Indian tourists who are like nothing I have ever experienced on a tour. India is the kind guide who found me the best spot on the boat then spent the next hours speaking to me of the wonders we saw. India is Princess Periyar, the Indian elephant who showed off for us in the mud while her family trumpeted from behind the trees. I had never seen a wild elephant before.

India is the wedding procession somewhere in Tamil Nadu with the parade of ecstatic musicians and dancers. The whirling, the complete ecstasy. Then the bride and groom on an amazing flowered vehicle, no more than 10 years of age, trying so hard to look mature and proud. The bliss of those celebrating was in direct contrast to the young couple.

India is LOUSY scrambled eggs and omelets! BUT it is home of the most amazing array of breads fresh off the skillet. India is palm leaf dishes...smile. They would bring my husband a leaf and me a dish and spoon. I would ask for the leaf of course. India is where you learn to eat with your fingers with elegance and the proper twist of the wrist. India is home of the most flavoured spicy tea in the world. Those little tiny tin cups of complete flavor satisfy the soul. NO one in the west makes such good tea. India home of the best mango drinks on the planet, just pure pureed fruit with a straw. Everywhere you go, someone has fruit to sell.

India is sitting by the ocean in Cochin digging fresh coconut out of the husk with a gold spoon, enjoying the sunset while street vendors try to sell "Madame" whatever they think she wants.

India means terrible sidewalks! Best to risk the street rather than the walks I found, especially in Bangalore.

India is a place where you can stand at the foot of a waterfall in the Western Ghats and feel you are close to heaven, then look down and see litter enough to cry. I found very little respect for the wild among the Indians, although I know that is not completely true.

India is a constant car horn! No matter where you go, you seem to hear them! I have never ever heard so much horn tooting! But then, LOL, you drive on the wrong side of the road!

India is a place where people are so alive and vital. Things are changing as I saw in Bangalore, alas. I am sure old people do not recognize the Bangalore of their youth, the city of gardens with the wide graceful avenues crowded with pollution spewing traffic.

India is a place where gracious manners still exist. Hinglish fascinated me. Where else would someone ask, "And your good name, Madam?"I found the courtesy to be amazing. Maybe it was the race thing again, I do not know. However, it was tough to return home and no longer be "madam" again. That touch of the old Raj is quite pleasing.

India is just a land of contrasts. I experienced the spice plantations, the beauty of the jungles and the miles of tea farms covering the mountains up in the clouds , the beautiful coolness of the mountains contrasted with the stifling heat and humidity of the lowlands near the equator. There is such amazing wealth, such grinding poverty and everything in between.

I saw the wonderful respect accorded old people contrasted with the craziness of the bright young things in larger cities. There is the beauty of the extremely traditional beside the most modern. The chap shimmying up the pole for coconuts looking as if he stepped out of history stopping to answer his cell phone. .

Ohhhhhhhh yes...and India is walking in the evening along thin strips of land that divide the rice paddies. The birds singing, the glisten of oil on the water, and hearing from one side the singing of the children in a catholic home while off in the distance, traditional Hindu music is drifting across the water ---timeless.

India changed me completely. It opened my eyes. I saw things that were wrong, the beggar children, and the women slaving on construction sites. But I also saw so much that was right, things forgotten in the West. The children were so much more innocent, and truly cherished. Smile... and I never saw a single baby stroller. Someone was always carrying the baby!

When I returned home, it took me awhile to get used to just how much we have here. It is too much. I appreciated the wide streets and the space I always took for granted. But I still hunger to return. I know I saw just a small part of a country that could take a lifetime to absorb. With all my heart I wish to return. One needs many lifetimes to even begin to properly explore a country of such contrasts and beauty!

Answer 2

I am not from India, but I believe that India is a great country, with lots of potential. It has a great culture (the Vedas are ones of the more ancient books), great prospect for the future and a great wisdom. Moreover I like Bollywood's films.
India has also problems, women are not treated fairly everywhere and some situations are difficult (there is still lots of poverty). But I am sure it can improve with time and I hope it will improve without loosing some very important values that India has and can teach to the west.

Answer 3

I'm not Indian but India means to me a lot because my best actor Amitabh Bachan lives there..

Answer 4

India is the spiritual heart of the world.

Answer 5

Its the country that my grand parents are from, and I think of it as very old in the sense of culture and tradition, but I think its a very impoverished country......

Answer 6

All I hear from Indian women my age is about their arranged marriages and how much they'd rather be partying.

Answer 7

closest country across the sea.

Answer 8

When you say india I think of "towl heads"